On Thursday an update to the Spotify iOS app switched the icon back to the well-known logo users are familiar with. That did away with the glowing green mirrorball icon for the Spotify app for Apple devices that it introduced the second week of May. - Variety
“The Washington National Opera (WNO) filed a lawsuit Thursday, alleging that the Kennedy Center failed to return more than $17 million in donations made to the organization after its split from the venue earlier this year.” - The Hill
“The renewal will give Honeck a 25-year tenure with the orchestra, making him the longest-serving music director in the Pittsburgh Symphony’s 131-year history. Honeck, who began his tenure in the 2008/09 season, has overseen a period of significant artistic growth and international visibility for the orchestra.” - Moto Perpetuo
Chad Smith: “I can see that it was an abrupt announcement externally. It didn’t represent abrupt decision-making, though. It was a very considered conversation that has been going on for some time. … Our intention was to have a joint statement, but that wasn’t agreed to.” - The New York Times
The imprint, which will operate within Sony Music, Levit’s longtime label, is called No Silence, and will feature artists other than Levit himself. Among the first three releases, available in October, will be a complete 16-hour performance of Satie’s Vexations. - Gramophone
The chain is partnering with live entertainment company Arena One to bring new technology to theaters. This tech would allow artists on a remote stage to see, hear and respond to the theater audience, in effect turning your local cinema into a stadium, the companies said. - Los Angeles Times
Under a new artist-first model, Wigmore Hall will pay the full production costs for every release and will take no share of the recording income, passing on 100% of royalties received directly to the performing artists. - Gramophone
Both the carbon fibre violin and the bow impressed with their dark, warm, and distinctive tone. From the very beginning, the two violins blended beautifully; despite their different personalities, they seemed perfectly matched. They were also remarkably powerful, filling the room with sound. - The Strad
Meghan Umber has spent two decades at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where she’s currently the orchestra’s chief programming officer and president of the Hollywood Bowl. She replaces current Aspen CEO Alan Fletcher as of October 1. - Aspen Public Radio
A new generation – of concert-goers as well as performers – are essential to classical music’s future. Would a Ryan Wigglesworth born today still become a musician? Are the networks and resources still in place? Wigglesworth thinks not. It’s a problem he’s navigating first-hand with his own children. - The Guardian
What used to be a novelty has now become a core staple of symphonic programming in the United States: live soundtracks, performances in which an orchestra plays while a movie screens overhead. - The New York Times
It was an AI-manipulated version of the band’s 2019 single “Angels Above Me,” sped up with a tweaked lead vocal and a dance-music kick drum. Stick Figure wasn’t mentioned anywhere, but someone was making thousands of dollars off its viral success. - Los Angeles Times
Millions have already been spent on planning and architectural design for a new home for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and total costs for the project were capped at a projected €1 billion (which few people believed). Now the mayor says the money simply isn’t there. - The Violin Channel
“For decades, the relationship between artists and audiences was heavily mediated and nurtured by newspaper critics, classical radio hosts, record-store owners, etc. — They made the music findable and meaningful. I call that layer the civic middleware of culture, and over the past twenty years it has largely collapsed.” - Bachtrack
The report by European Movement UK, a cross-party campaign group advocating closer UK-EU relations, found that nearly half of British musicians had experienced a reduced amount of work in the EU since 2021, while more than a quarter had stopped working there altogether. - The Gaurdian
